Part I: SEO

PRWeb and Vocus sponsored a webinar on “How to Use Online News Releases to Drive Social Media Campaigns” : so I thought I’d “ruminate” over the material by “taking notes” as a blog post. That way, we all can get smarter.

Steps to SEO

A. Identify a profitable target key phrase

B. Create content page around your target key phrase

C. Build backlinks with key phrase and content relevancy

Where should key phrases go on your content pages?

(a) Title tag; (b) Meta description tag; (c) Meta keyword tag; (d) header; (e) body copy; (f) ALT text

NOTE: Robyn Tippins told my PR class that it’s not just the key words. You also need related words, or Google may think you are spamming.

In addition to key words, Google uses “backlinks” i.e.,  clickable words or images that take you to other sites like the two in this sentence.

NOTE: Not just any old links will work, though. Google judges the the quantity, quality, and relevance of the links.

HINT: Links with .gov and .edu add authority, and that’s a good thing

ARTICLES ARE A GREAT WAY TO GET BACKLINKS

And here are some recommended sites to submit your stories to:

• Go Articles
• Ezine Articles
• Amazines
• Article City
• BPubs
• Business Know-How
• Promotion World
• Promote News

Forums and Blogs also offer great places for relevant backlinks, but you need to take care: Participate in a MEANINGFUL way, which means Adding Value and Making Friends.

Note from Google

Google’s Matt Cutter posted a webinar and transcript further explaining SEO and how you get more “Google Juice”:

The more PageRank you have, the faster you are likely to be found, the deeper we [Google] will crawl in your site, and the more often we will visit your pages to see if they have been refreshed.

PageRank at a 50,000 foot view is this: it is the number of people who link to you and how important those links are.

So PageRank is not just getting as many links as you can. It is also how important they are. So having high quality content can really make a big difference.

Now it’s time to check out some of the sources listed above.

1. Why not research one of the article publishers and see if you’d like placing your content on that platform?
   
2. Read one of your favorite bloggers and leave a thoughtful comment.
   
3. Check out a forum that discusses issues of interest to you; you can simply Google your area of interest with the word “forum,” i.e. “car forums” or “writer forums.”

Then, of course, JUST DO IT — Write your comments.

Next post: Part II of Notes on PRWeb’s webinar: Online News Releases are one of the most important SEO tools out there.